Going beyond the Dome

Westside community members say what they want from the next mayor

“We need lights. I freakin’ hate walking down here in the dark. We tell them all the time, ‘Can you come and fix the lights? Can you fix the freaking lights?’ Can they make the police actually do something? I was robbed last week, and I have not heard anything back. The school right there, it is an elementary school, and they are tearing it down to build a parking lot. And the reason they are saying is that it was underperforming, and it’s like, well that does not mean you have to tear it down, you know? It means maybe get better teachers. I just feel like there is so much more they could do than build a parking lot. That does not really help the students. It helps no one except the parking lot people. It’s for the stadium. They are tearing down the other stadium, why not just build a parking lot there?”
Photo credit: Dustin Chambers
Westside resident, Honor
By Dustin Chambers Monday October 30, 2017 10:30 AM EDT

Atlanta photographer Dustin Chambers has spent the last few years working on a project called Beyond the Dome, which focuses on the communities directly impacted by the construction of the new Falcons stadium, which opened this fall. This area includes the neighborhoods Vine City, English Avenue, and Bankhead and is commonly referred to by residents there as the Westside. The $1.5 billion stadium project, which included at least $700 million in public funds was constructed just blocks from some of the poorest neighborhoods in Atlanta. Chambers completed a series of portraits and interviews of members of these communities about the upcoming election and things they would like to see changed.

— Joeff Davis, Photo Editor

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.



“We need lights. I freakin’ hate walking down here in the dark. We tell them all the time, ‘Can you come and fix the lights? Can you fix the freaking lights?’ Can they make the police actually do something? I was robbed last week, and I have not heard anything back. The school right there, it is an elementary school, and they are tearing it down to build a parking lot. And the reason they are saying is that it was underperforming, and it’s like, well that does not mean you have to tear it down, you know? It means maybe get better teachers. I just feel like there is so much more they could do than build a parking lot. That does not really help the students. It helps no one except the parking lot people. It’s for the stadium. They are tearing down the other stadium, why not just build a parking lot there?” “What I am expecting from the new mayor and what my neighborhood on the Westside needs from the new mayor are more activities for the kids. Give them something to do besides run in the streets. When I was growing up we had a whole plethora of after school activities. There is nothing for them to do nowadays, so they find trouble. I would like my son to have access to something that stimulates his mind and makes him think. Another thing, the safety of the neighborhood. It's so many abandoned houses. They say we are getting grants from the stadium, but we we don’t see it on this side of the westside, we tried to purchase the house up the street, but nobody knows who owns the property. We can’t get any information from the city, but these abandoned houses are giving these kids opportunities that they can get hurt." “I've been staying here all my life. I feel like I need more opportunities and more jobs for people who messed up in their previous life. You know, who's trying to change or whatever. That’s what I feel like we need, like a second chance. I'm happy they passed that marijuana law, but before that you get caught with a blunt or whatever, they take your license. You don't have a license, you can't drive. Most folks who get locked up or get into it with the law get out on probation. Now you on probation and you can't even get a job. I hate it like that, but I guess that's just how it is. At the end of the day, your bills still due, your rent is still due. If you give a lot of people jobs and we can help build the community or whatever, but if you don't give effort, they only do what they know. They need to make a better opportunity for the city so it wouldn't be all this killing and all this violence because everyone is working and nobody is on the streets. Everybody isn't living in fear or scared.” “We need somebody with a real, true heart and understanding to give us equal chance. Stop looking at our color. Stop looking at where we live, because you’re the one that pushed us here anyways. All these big time politicians and everything. And here’s the thing that’s really degrading and embarrassing to us: That y’all figure we don’t know politics, but we do. The reason we chose not to participate in it is because that’s rigged, too. We built the United States, but we can’t go to the bank to get a loan. Do you think we’re just dumb, stupid, or illiterate? A person knows when they’re being done wrong. Why can a white men gun down a 12-year-old boy in Cleveland, Ohio? Why can this man kill this young boy and walk away scratch free? Something’s got to be really wrong with this government. You can’t justify gunning down a 12-year-old. What is this kid gonna do to you? I say there’s something really wrong with the United States government.” “I am looking for them to put in a speed bump for these cars speeding up and down the street. I am worried about somebody getting hurt. Also, do something with all the empty houses around here. Put the homeless in there. And get rid of all these rats running around here. There are so many rats, it is a shame. There is a lot that needs to be done. They want us to go up there and vote for them, but they are not doing nothing for our neighborhood.” “Whoever becomes the mayor for Atlanta, Georgia, this year. I think one of the first things they would need to do besides fix the streets is get jobs for the people in the neighborhood. Not just construction. Open it up so people can go through entrepreneur programs or get different trades. Let them get jobs doing something they love to do, because if people love to do something, they are going to do it right.” “If you say you want to help my community, I want to see you in my community, putting your hands in it. Don’t just do grandstanding when a big name is involved. If you are going to talk the talk walk the walk. That’s it.” “I want them to do their job. Get these folks out of here selling their dope. People don’t want that all around their house. I found a needle out here today. They’re supposed to have moved most of the stuff. We need their help here. They really need a recreational center so these kids have somewhere to play and go in, like an after school program. Our kids are not trouble. They expect them to be trouble, but a lot of these kids are not trouble kids. All the kids are not bad. While their parents are at work, they play and go to school. I’m willing to work with them.” "When they come into neighborhoods that are predominately black, and they fix them up and other nationalities come in, then they move us out. Anybody that’s on section 8, they move us out and move them in and then we have to go into more expensive neighborhoods where we can’t live. A lot of time we’re pushing our fingers down to the bones and still can’t get ahead because the system is rigged to keep us down. People may say that’s just how ya’ll feel, but if you truly look at it that’s truly the way it is. You got families out here with degrees, my husband has two degrees, but he has a felony that’s 20 years old and can’t get a job. He had to create his own job. It’s hard. More proper police control where they would do their job and not take advantage of us like it’s not okay. But to me, it’s like they get it from the president. Like when he said don’t coddle them when you’re putting them in the car, rough them up. It’s systematic and it’s coming down from the top down to a local level that it’s okay to treat us the way that they treat us. It was hidden, but it’s no longer hidden and it’s coming from the top and it’s sad. That has nothing to do with the mayor, but it trickles down."


All Photos by: Dustin Chambers

 





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